Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Inflammable

I think I figured out another aspect of what bothers me about the current primary battle. In real life, I'm not a terribly confrontational person . . I am either blessed with seeing my confronter's viewpoint at least in part, or cursed by the same. I usually react coolly to screaming and anger.

Unfortunately, I am blessed with an ex- with a personality disorder and child custody issues. In DSM-IV terms, applied as a layman, she exhibits narcissism with sociopathic tendencies. Which makes confrontations with her, both peaceful and turbulent, like walking footsteps in the Word of God.

When the ex- is not misbehaving, she can actually deal honestly. But since its the ex- . . . the other people in my life have a great deal of difficulty in taking her statements without doubt and mistrust. Sometimes I feel like I lack the switch that in human nature dictates the Other Must Always Be Wrong. I can loath Pat Buchanan most of the time, but when his clock is between 12:25-12:30, sometimes he has it right.

I get these same feelings watching the fracticide between the two Democratic camps.

At some point, after the Left Coaster decided to back Clinton, Turkana and Eriposte changed the rules of discussion on the candidates to the rules of rhetoric wherein almost anything goes and you rarely admit defeat. And anyone in a contentious custody issue certainly knows this environment. 2 minutes late turns into, "Can't place himself behind his children's needs". Forgetting to pack clothing for the weekend turns into, "Can't bother herself with the necessity of preparing the child."

The TLC authors and the Pissy Dems for Clinton Club want abject apology and obsequity from Obama's team. They demand inclusion. They demand consessions. They demand weeks and months of deferment in repayment for the other's errors. And isn't it just too bad if those demands would turn Obama's slow win-in-progress into Clinton's come-from-behind nomination? That just proves he couldn't win in November.

Turkana's post tonight, on the Kentucky primary, is one more piece of evidence, that some camps have not only Eriposte's Clinton Derangement Syndrome, but that ODS - Obama Derangement Syndrome - is just as rife and ugly. Both sides can't seem to judge opposing candidate or their campaigns fairly. And both sides seem to have problems with this whole Reality Based thing. You member the whole 'Realty Based Community' thing, right?

Richard Cohen is probably right - this is no longer about 2008, it's about 2012 or 2016. This is about going down as a last-woman-to-the-draw fighter. So when you think of Sen. Hillary Clinton in the future, you think of a never-say-die politician, not the ambitious spouse of Bill Clinton. I question this image narrative considering how much the press has slimed her image in the past, but . . I'm not on the campaign.

The latest insider knife fight has the Clinton team finally playing ball. After months of speculation agreeing that an Obama-Clinton ticket would be a Democratic dream team, high Clinton staffers are agreeing to maybe accepting the VP position. If it was offered. And then tons of Obama political supporters downplaying it. That's politics, as normal.

So's the rest of this malarky. Bloggers, partisans - heal thyselves of thy Derangement. It's about time someone reminded you its a fucking act and that it's high damn time for you to drop it or to decide to crucify John Bush McCain instead. If I want to listen to screaming distortions, I'll call my ex-, and demand that she owes me the tax rebate she got for our son.

2 comments:

Seven of Six said...

Idio, Turkana's sentence in his Kentucky thread, he states "Which is, of course, according to Those That Matter, irrelevant."

Pissed me off to no end. He is always dissing Obama supporters in his election threads. Almost every election thread, his M.O. is to always put down Obama fans. It's disservice to Steve Soto's site and the long time posters at TLC who are Obama supporters.

Anjha said...

This Primary season could prompt an entire new edition of the DSM.

I think Turkana is a she, SoS, but I am continually surprised that when the partisan postings are called out...there is complete denial that anything partisan was ever written.

There is consistent degredation of the supporters of Obama on TLC and what is worse - of Obama himself.

A couple of weeks ago there was a poster in a comment thread who said something to the effect of: "I was on the fence between Clinton and Obama, then I started doing research and found eRiposte's excellent analysis and now I will never ever support Obama and will do everything that I can to defeat him."

That clinched it for me. I was pissed and I felt that me worst fears had been realized.

I had asked eRiposte some time ago (in a comment thread) just what he thought that he was accomplishing by tearing Obama down, did he really think that this would help the Democratic Party...I received no response but the poster above confirmed my fears.

I also believe that some of the feelings towards Obama by the most fervent Clinton supporters are a direct mirror of Clinton herself and that it is her messaging that damages Obama. She must direct her supporters - many of whom I have heard call into the radio and say such things as "I will only vote for him if Clinton tells me to."

Bizarre.

I never dreamed, 2 years ago when I pined for 2008, that we would be here.